Ex-Partner Files Suit, Seeks Arrests

The departure of a partner from an Atlanta business boutique has turned acrimonious.

Bradley E. Heard agreed to leave Molden Holley Thompson Fergusson & Heard in January, less than two years after he helped found the firm, according to the Fulton County Daily Report.

Heard claimed he was shut out of decisions and getting his distribution checks late, while the other partners said he was alienating clients and running his own practice in competition with the firm, according to the legal newspaper.

A suit Heard filed in Cobb County court describes a visit to the office a few days after his resignation. Heard claims he had an agreement to be able to visit the office, but a partner ordered him to leave and called police when he refused. The suit accuses Heard’s former colleagues of slander, libel and breach of fiduciary duty, the legal newspaper reports.

Later Heard sought criminal arrest warrants against three of the firm’s partners, accusing them of trespass, filing a false police report and, in one instance, illegally voting.

The firm responds that after his resignation Heard changed the password to firm bank accounts so they could not be accessed and altered information on the firm’s Web site.